Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Ethan Randall, Jack Thompson, Sarel Bok, Maximilian Schell
Director: Mikael Salomon
Producers: Eva Monley and Elaine Sperber
Screenplay: Robert Caswell, Jonathan Hensleigh, and Sally Robinson
Cinematography: Juan Ruiz Anchía
Music: James Horner
U.S Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
Nonnie Parker (Reese Witherspoon) is a 14-year old girl living on a farm in Africa. Harry Winslow (Ethan Randall) is a 16-year old boy visiting with his father from America. These two opposites are thrown together when elephant tusk poachers murder Nonnie's parents and Harry's father. With the help of a teenage bush man named Xhabbo (Sarel Bok), Nonnie and Harry attempt a crossing of the Kalahari desert to escape the poachers.
A Far Off Place is undoubtedly designed as a "family film" (hence the PG rating), but parents should be warned. Some of the scenes of animal death may be quite disturbing to younger children. Despite Disney's disclaimer that no animals were injured during filming (the dead elephants are actually meticulously-constructed life-size replicas), this won't be a great comfort to anyone traumatized by one particularly gruesome sequence.
The basic plot is relatively straightforward, as expected from a live-action Disney film (no need to confuse the children in the audience). The best part of A Far Off Place is, predictably, the trek across the Kalahari. On this journey, the three principal characters learn about life, tolerance, and each other. Yes, some of these revelations are rather trite, but at tleast they're presented with some degree of subtlety.
Reese Witherspoon (last seen as the charming younger sister in The Man in the Moon) shows ability and presence as Nonnie. Her character is not especially well-written, but the actress does the best she can with the material. Sarel Bok is equally good. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Ethan Randall. Randall's Harry is an obnoxious whiner, and the actor has difficulty making him even remotely sympathetic. He is outclassed by Witherspoon and Bok in almost every scene.
As a family feature, A Far Off Place is reasonably effective, combining all the right formulas. The villains are predictably evil and the heroes good, but the main struggle is less of a morality play than one of man against nature. The cinematography (by Juan Ruiz-Anchia), with its breathtaking shots of the African desert, is impressive, especially coupled with James Horner's fine score. Despite its predictability, A Far Off Place still manages to be a satisfying movie adventure.
Double-billed with A Far Off Place is the newest Roger Rabbit cartoon, "Trail Mix-Up". The nine-minute short is rather average cartoon fare with a clever ending. The short has the subtlety and plot of a Roadrunner and Wiley Coyote cartoon, although it isn't as humorous. Ultimately, it's a painless diversion that serves as an adequate lead-in to the much longer A Far Off Place.
© 1993 James Berardinelli